Kelly the Culinarian: Training Tuesday

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Training Tuesday

It's been a roller coaster-y week and a half here. I was injured, which made me anxious and apprehensive about my commitment to run a half marathon (that's just 10 days away now). As I shared earlier this week, I went on my long run Sunday. As I was laying in bed at 6:20 a.m Sunday (I used to sleep in like a normal person), I was getting even more anxious about my injury, about my lack of mileage in the previous week and about the rain I could hear beating down on my roof.

I got up, had a great breakfast and then decided I was going to hit the streets and see what my legs could do.

And I surprised even myself. I felt strong. I felt happy. I felt fast.

I maintained some mostly negative splits, up until the seventh mile. A great song came on my new favorite Pandora station (did you know there's an alternative rock station under the workout tab? Perfect.) and really opened up on my speed. It left me a little on the empty side, so the rest of my miles were a slower.

However, psychologically, this 9.3-mile run was really important. I finished it in 1:30. Because of this run, I know I can finish the half marathon. My body has the ability to run a sub-two-hour half, I just need to get my head in the game and stick with these next two weeks. I plan to give myself the food my body needs, hydrate like I mean it and sleep like it's going out of style.

On a related note, I had an awesome meeting tonight with an exercise physiologist. I've always loved data and research, so I've volunteered myself as a human guinea pig. In the coming weeks, I'm going to get my body composition, metabolism and VO2 max measured and analyzed so I have solid data about my level of fitness. Does anyone know if I can cram for a VO2 max test?

Anyhow, he mentioned in passing about nutrition, and I told him that my diet would be awesome, if I didn't love Taco Bell so much. He told me that at my training level, calories shouldn't be my main concern, but instead, eating food that makes me feel good and perform well. Best news of the night: he told me if I want the Taco Bell, go for it, but maybe get a salad with a taco instead of my standard meal. He also told me I should monitor my protein intake for muscle building and performance. A good goal for me would be 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight each day. So I'm going to take my homework to heart and start tracking my food again. As much of a pain in the ass it is, tracking calories is how I first started losing weight, so now at least I'm doing it with a goal in mind other than "get skinny."

I'm really excited for the half marathon that's just a week from Sunday. Rachael and I are going to rock this race and show Louisville what we can do. After that, I'm looking forward to finding out more data about my fitness level so I can start training for the next challenge. What's that? Stay tuned ...

Mantra: My feet hurt from kicking so much ass.

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